In recent years, there has been developed a device for automatically stopping and restarting an internal combustion engine, which, for the purpose of improving fuel consumption of vehicles such as automobiles and reducing environmental burdens, automatically shuts off fuel so as to automatically stop the engine when predetermined conditions to stop the engine by driver operations, such as vehicle speed becoming lower than a predetermined speed and the brake pedal being depressed, are met, and following that, restarts fuel injection and automatically restarts the engine when predetermined conditions to restart the engine by the driver operations, such as releasing the brake pedal and depressing the accelerator pedal, are met.
To date, a device has been proposed, as the foregoing device for automatically stopping and restarting an internal combustion engine, which prohibits cranking by an engine starter, when an engine-reverse-rotation detection and estimation device detects estimates engine reverse rotation, even if the starting conditions are met, thereby preventing an excessive burden from being imposed on the starter and power transmission system and quickly starting up the engine. (See, for example, Patent document 1)